Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Mind Perception
AI Companionship
Companionability
Meaning in Life
Human-AI Interaction
Mind Perception Influences Perceived AI Companionability
🤖 AI Summary
This study addresses whether mind perception precedes and shapes human perceptions of AI companionship. By integrating field sampling experiments, psychological priming techniques, and structural equation modeling, it systematically examines how mind descriptions influence perceived AI companionability. The findings demonstrate that attributing mental capacities to AI effectively reduces user skepticism, revealing two distinct explanatory pathways: agency predicts companionability dimensions via a “resource-based” route, whereas experience operates through an “resonance-based” route. Furthermore, meaning in life serves as a significant moderator, with individuals possessing higher existential purpose more readily connecting with AI through both pathways. Ultimately, this work establishes the theoretical standing of mind perception as a critical antecedent variable in shaping AI companionability.
📝 Abstract
Humans increasingly keep company with AI companions, yet whether mind perception (MP) precedes machine companionship remains untested. In a field-sampled experiment, participants received mind-attributive or mind-negating descriptions of an AIC before interacting with and rating its companionability. Baseline skepticism was high; minded primes somewhat reduced skepticism for connective coordination (CC; dyadic co-presence) but not eudaimonic exchange (EE; self-elevating links). Pre-interaction MP beliefs predicted companionability dimensionally: Agentic MP predicted EE potential while experiential MP predicted CC potential. Meaning in life moderated the agentic MP-companionability link, but exclusively for those already high in existential purpose. Results suggest two construal pathways to companionability--one through perceiving the AIC as an agent-resource and one through perceiving it as an attuning experiencer--both more accessible to humans already flourishing.
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Mind Perception
AI Companionship
Agentic and Experiential Construal
Meaning in Life
Human-AI Interaction
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2023-11-17arXiv.orgCitations: 11
